- 4 hours ago
This video will show you how to make Make-Ahead Potatoes Romanoff, a perfectly cheesy and satisfying potato side dish. Learn Chef John's method for grating baked russet potatoes to create a wonderfully fluffy texture. It is a fantastic, stress-free addition to your holiday dinner table
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00:00Hello, this is Chef John from Foodwishes.com with Make-Ahead Potatoes Romanoff.
00:08That's right, I'm going to show you a make-ahead version of what might be the best steakhouse potato side
00:13dish ever.
00:14And by the way, I learned this from a chef who invented and popularized the modern version, whose name is
00:20also John.
00:21So you're not just getting a Chef John recipe, you're getting a Chef John, Chef John recipe.
00:26And to get started, we're going to scrub four russet potatoes really well, since we're actually going to use some
00:32of the skins in this recipe.
00:33And we're going to place those on a baking sheet and make sure they're evenly spaced.
00:37Oh, and for maybe the first time ever, I forgot to poke them, and I'll let you know later if
00:42that made any difference.
00:43But anyway, what we'll do is roast those at 425 for about an hour and 15 minutes, or until they're
00:49tender.
00:50And as you well know, we never guess in the kitchen unless we have to.
00:54So we'll want to test those with the tip of a knife, which should slide in with little to no
00:58effort.
00:59And once our potatoes are successfully baked, we'll let those cool down a little bit.
01:03At which point, I'm going to wrap them up and pop them in the fridge until they are completely chilled,
01:09which I always do overnight.
01:10But if you want to do these the same day, make sure you give yourself at least a few hours.
01:15Since what makes Potatoes Romanoff so special is that the casserole is made with grated cooked potatoes.
01:20And to get the proper texture, it's crucial that the potatoes are cold before we do that.
01:25And then the other little bit of prep we can do is to finely dice a shallot, which I know
01:29looks like a red onion, but it only sort of tastes like a red onion.
01:33Right, shallots have such a unique flavor, which just works so perfectly in this.
01:38So if you can find them, I highly recommend you use them.
01:41But if you can't, the white parts of some green onion will work, or really any other kind of onion
01:45as well.
01:47Oh, and in the original Food Wishes Potatoes Romanoff recipe, from which this version is based, I actually added in
01:53the shallots raw, which is how I was taught.
01:56But since we're doing this as a make-ahead version, as you'll see in a few moments, I'm going to
02:00saute these in a little bit of oil to take off that raw edge.
02:04Since if you add raw shallots or onions to something, and it sits for a long time, the flavors can
02:10actually intensify and take over the dish.
02:13So to avoid that, we'll cook those over medium heat, and just a little bit of oil, for a few
02:18minutes, until they just start to soften.
02:21And we should also probably toss in a nice pinch of salt.
02:24Oh, and I should mention, I love shallots, so I'm going to use like a third of a cup.
02:29Okay, a safer bet, especially for a holiday side dish for a larger group, is probably just a couple generous
02:34tablespoons.
02:35So that's the amount I'm going to list on the written recipe.
02:38But feel free to adjust up, if you want to go Chef John style.
02:42And that's it, once done, we'll reserve those until needed, and we will move on to the grating of the
02:47potatoes.
02:48Which, since they're nice and cold and firm, is going to be easy.
02:52And as I mentioned, we're not going to peel these, and some of the skin is definitely going to get
02:56grated into the mixture.
02:58But a lot of the skin is going to get stuck on the outside of the grater, and so we
03:03will discard these larger pieces.
03:05And the leaving the skins on is not just a time saver, although that is a nice perk,
03:09but it also has a wonderful effect on the flavor.
03:13And those little pieces of skin are going to add kind of a baked potato flavor profile,
03:17which is another reason why this is such a great dish.
03:20And I've had too many potato casseroles and gratons to count,
03:24right, including ones where the potatoes were mashed, and sliced, and cubed, and crushed.
03:29But for me, this grating technique produces the most interesting and addictive texture,
03:35which we're going to talk more about later.
03:38Oh, and in case you were wondering,
03:40no, I don't think not poking the potatoes made any difference here.
03:43So I guess this time we can skip the old polka polka.
03:47But anyway, once those were all grated,
03:49we'll go ahead and add the rest of the ingredients,
03:51including some salt, as well as some ground white pepper.
03:55And if you don't have that, freshly ground black pepper will be fine.
03:59But if you want this to be the Chef John, Chef John version,
04:02you'll use the white.
04:03And then we'll follow that with a few shakes of cayenne,
04:07which only one of the Chef Johns uses.
04:09And you'll never guess which one.
04:12Nope, it's me.
04:14And once we have that seasoned up,
04:15we'll go ahead and add our reserved shallots.
04:18And once that's been scattered over,
04:20we'll follow that with our cheese.
04:22And in the original recipe we posted,
04:24I used all sharp cheddar.
04:26But for this make-ahead holiday-themed version,
04:28I decided to use some Gruyere, as well,
04:31which is a little richer and slightly sweeter.
04:34It has that little bit of nuttiness to it,
04:36which is going to work so perfectly in this.
04:39And then what we'll do before we add the last ingredient
04:41is take two forks and give this a very thoughtful
04:44and thorough mixing.
04:46And we'll do that by tossing everything upwards,
04:49occasionally cleaning off our forks.
04:51And the reason we're using this technique
04:53is because we do not, under any circumstances,
04:56want to mash these potatoes.
04:58Right, this really is one of the keys
05:00to a potatoes Romanoff with a perfect texture.
05:03All right, what we want is millions of pieces of potato
05:05and not something that's smashed into a dense mass.
05:09And once we've given that a good and proper forking,
05:11we will stop and we will add
05:13a ridiculous amount of sour cream.
05:16And to help get that mixed in evenly,
05:18with the minimum amount of movement,
05:20we will dollop that over the top
05:22instead of just piling it in one spot.
05:24And once that's been accomplished,
05:26we'll grab our two forks again
05:28and we'll use that same basic tossing technique
05:30we used earlier.
05:31Although we are going to have to stir and mix a little bit
05:33to get this incorporated.
05:35And something to keep in mind
05:37is that we're still going to have to transfer this
05:39into a casserole dish.
05:40And things are going to get mixed up as we do that.
05:42So having this sour cream like 90 to 95% incorporated is fine.
05:47And once that's been accomplished,
05:48we have two options.
05:50We can go ahead and transfer it into the dish
05:52we just talked about.
05:53Or we can wrap the bowl up
05:55and then transfer it into the baking dish
05:57once we're ready to go into the oven,
05:59which is the method I prefer.
06:01All right, we all know what our fridges look like
06:03around the holidays.
06:04And if we transferred it into the baking dish,
06:06it could get smashed by something being placed on top.
06:09So I think this is a little safer.
06:11And then once we are ready to rock,
06:13we'll pull it out
06:14and we'll use a fork to very,
06:16very gently transfer that in.
06:18And while we do want it evenly distributed,
06:21we want to be sure that we're not packing
06:22and pressing too much.
06:24All right, what we're trying to do
06:25is basically pile this up
06:26and not crush all those thousands
06:28of little individual air pockets
06:30that are in and around
06:31all those little pieces of potato.
06:33And once it's all been transferred in,
06:35we'll take the tips of both forks
06:37and we'll make the top
06:38as uniformly ununiform as we can.
06:41And once we're happy with how that looks,
06:44I like to finish the top
06:45with a few shakes of cayenne
06:47just to warm things up
06:48in both taste and appearance.
06:50At which point this is ready to transfer
06:52into the upper center
06:53of a 425 degree oven
06:55for about 35 minutes
06:57or until it's heated through
06:59and beautifully browned.
07:01And it hopefully looks like this.
07:03Oh yeah, now that, my friends,
07:05is absolutely gorgeous.
07:07And we could serve it just like this.
07:09But you know me,
07:10I'm going to have to scatter over
07:11some freshly snipped chives.
07:13But anyway, you'll have to decide
07:15how to finish this.
07:16I mean, you are after all the big show-off
07:18of your potatoes roaming off.
07:20And you could use parsley instead
07:22or some sliced green onions.
07:23Or like I said, just leave it plain.
07:26But no matter what you do,
07:28when you grab a fork and dig in,
07:30you're going to be experiencing
07:31one of the most beautiful,
07:33most flavorful,
07:34most texturally perfect
07:35potato side dishes of all time.
07:37All right, what we have here
07:39is basically potatoes au gratin
07:40meets a fluffy, perfectly baked potato.
07:43And what I think makes this dish so ingenious
07:46is that it's very rich and decadent
07:48and super satisfying.
07:50Yet thanks to the technique we used,
07:51it actually seems very light.
07:53Which is why I think this would be spectacular
07:55on your holiday table,
07:57right next to a roast turkey
07:58or a glistening ham.
08:00And it always takes a lot of the stress away
08:02when you're cooking a potato side dish
08:04where the potatoes are already cooked.
08:05So besides its beauty and amazing taste,
08:08this is also perfect logistically
08:10for the holidays.
08:12But no matter when you serve this,
08:14it truly is one of the greatest
08:15potato side dishes of all time.
08:17Which is why I really do hope
08:19you give it a try soon.
08:21So please follow the links below
08:23for the ingredient amounts,
08:25a printable written recipe,
08:27and much more info as usual.
08:29And as always,
08:32enjoy!
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